"The whole world in my arms"

It's been a rough week, a really rough week, and it's only been 2 days long. Frankly, it's really been a rough month or so. Work has been super chaotic and it's been a struggle.

Today was the straw that broke the camel's back. It's a long story and frankly not one worth the time to type it all out and certainly not worth your time to read.

The short version is that I *had* to leave work exactly on time today in order to pick up our CSA share in Castle Rock (I had to switch our pick up time/location this week as we're leaving town tomorrow morning) and still get to daycare on time. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

I got a last minute call, right as I should have been walking out the door. Something that I *had* to deal with before leaving since I wasn't going to be in the office again until next week.

So, I did eventually leave. Late. 20 minutes late.

No time to go pick up our CSA share and barely enough time to get to day care on time.

So I raced to day care, sliding in just under the wire.

And then...

I drove back to Castle Rock and went to pick up our CSA share.

Except there was a roll over accident on I25 so it took forever to get there.

On the drive back home, one lane of Parker Road was shut down, so it took forever to get home.

So my little girl sat in her car seat for 2 1/2 hours tonight. I should have just said "forget it" and blown off the CSA pick up. But I didn't...so completely not fair to her.

She didn't make a sound. She napped for a little bit. She babbled and "told me about her day" and I apologized to her over and over again while tears streamed down my face. She was perfect.

We made it home, I fed her a batch of oatmeal and some butternut squash, two hours late.

30 minutes later, I was feeding her a bottle, with my face nestled up against hers. Feeling her soft cheek against mine. Smelling that wonderful baby smell. She wrapped her hand around my finger and held on tight while she finished her bottle.

I had my whole world in my arms and all of a sudden the stress of the day, the week, the past month no longer mattered.

In those moments I realized, at least tonight, if not always, I need her more than she needs me.

Mimi & Papa were here!!

My parents were/are here this week and we couldn't be happier. They got to our house on Friday afternoon & McClellan was so happy to see her Mimi & Papa!! They were only here overnight, on their way up to Estes Park, but long enough for us to have some fun together!

McClellan was more than eager to show off her eating skills with her Mimi-lucky for her Mimi she spared her the "raspberry treatment" that she has learned. Green beans on Mimi's white sweater would not have looked so pretty!

Of course McClellan stole Papa's hat, who wouldn't? It's a KU hat after all!!

We all bundled up and headed over to Littleton to the Hudson Holiday light show. Matt and I went last year and were amazed! We decided we had to show my parents this amazing display and they weren't disappointed-cold maybe, but not disappointed!

The house is one of my favorite things-all the lights are choreographed to music!

Mimi & Papa in the tunnel of lights.

McClellan slept through the whole thing!! We thought we'd better take a picture anyway...last year when we were there I was pregnant with McClellan!

Which one of these is *not* like the others?

Sisterly Love

Maddie has turned out to be a great big sister. She has adjusted just fine to having her home taken over by McClellan, all her things, and all the noise!

As you can see, she was pretty curious the first day we brought McClellan home. Back in those days McClellan really didn't notice Maddie much.


Well, things have changed, just a little! McClellan now rolls and scoots all over the place to get close to Maddie!!

Maddie is a trooper and allows McClellan to pull, squeeze and "pet" her-which is really more like pinching.

And yes, even some "kisses" are shared between our two girls from time to time. Don't worry, we only let it go on long enough to hear McClellan bust out laughing!

Feeding McClellan

McClellan has been more than eager to start eating "solids" - so far oatmeal, green beans, butternut squash and some Happy Baby Green Puffs made of kale, spinach and collard greens.

She is convinced that she can do it all herself and needs no help-she actually does pretty good, getting the spoon in her mouth, but we haven't yet tried giving her a spoon full of food. I'm not quite ready to clean up the mess that would no doubt follow.


~Green beans were a hit!!



~Her first "puff"-big hit!!

~We put the sippy cup down in front of her and she picked it up and knew just what to do with it!

~Her first exposure to butternut squash wasn't exactly a hit.

~Showing her obvious displeasure at the site of butternut squash being on the menu again.

~She seems to think that she's ready for the "big stuff" already!

Stay tuned for more taste test results! Today I made her pumpkin, spaghetti squash and spinach and froze them for later...should be interesting to see what she ends up liking!!

6 months old already!!

McClellan is 6 months old today! Not only has this past month flown by but we are having a hard time believing that 6 months ago we were meeting our little girl for the first time-how can it have gone by so fast? It's annoying that I say that every month I'm sure, but honestly, I swear every month goes by faster than the last!

Her big news for this month is that she's eating food now-well oatmeal so far anyway. I'd planned to start her on avocado but ended up starting with oatmeal instead. Oh well. So far, so good. McClellan practically attacks the spoon when I start to feed her-needless to say she has no problems eating at all. She was more than ready!

No crawling yet but she's getting up on all 4's, rocking back and forth and doing some scooting
backwards-it's the funniest thing! She rolls all over the place and is so hard to keep in one place for very long now.

Our monthly photos have become more "challenging" as the last thing she wants to do is sit still!

Have you voted yet?

Are you sick of the typical politician?

Are you looking for some real change, not just a slogan?

Are you ready for total cuteness 24/7?

Then cast your Vote for McClellan!!